Who needs lobsters when donairs are the official food of Halifax?

How many Canadian cities can brag they have an official food? Only one that I know of — Halifax. And no, it’s not a lobster or anything from the sea. It’s a donair. If that sounds strange, you probably have never tried this Canadian concoction of spiced beef wrapped in a pita and doused with a signature sweet sauce. Or you may have wolfed down a donair, possibly after a drunken night on the town, and never given much thought to its origin story.

The beginning

At King of Donair, you will see the meat you are about to eat cooking on a vertical rotisserie.Jennifer Bain

In the beginning, there were Turkish doner kebabs (doners), Greek gyros and Middle Eastern shawarmas. Without squabbling over details of which countries created which ones and when, let’s just say these closely related meals involve meat (typically lamb, chicken, pork and beef) cooked on a vertical rotisserie, carved to order and nestled in flatbread with vegetables plus a sauce to pull it all together.

Then in the 1960s, Peter Gamoulakos moved from Greece to Canada, soon opened Velos Pizza in Bedford, Nova Scotia and started tinkering with the dish he knew and loved. Realizing that Canadians weren’t fond of lamb, he switched to ground beef, enlivened it with spices, molded it into a tube and cooked it on a vertical rotisserie. And seeing how the Canadian palate initially rejected tzatziki (a tart combo of strained yogurt and cucumber), he created a sweet sauce based on evaporated milk and sugar. Gamoulakos opened King of Donair on Quinpool Road in Halifax, and the donair was officially born in 1973.

The buzz builds

In the original King of Donair location on Quinpool, the walls are devoted to media coverage.Jennifer Bain

The donair lovefest that started in 1973 continues to this day, mostly in competing pizzerias. The Coast, an independent Halifax newspaper, hands out annual “best donair” awards. Taste Halifax Food and Beer Tours celebrates donairs on its culinary tours.

Donairs have spawned at least two important songs. Dartmouth musician Chad Hatcher wrote the “Donair Song,” waxing poetic about the spicy treat and how “when it’s 3 a.m. it’s the only thing I want.” Halifax musician Quake Matthews, meanwhile, wrote “Down With the King,” rapping about how he’s a “true Nova Scotian, wake up every Sunday morning drunk with donair on my clothing.”

The declaration

At the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 gift shop, this felt donair is just a prop.Jennifer Bain

Jump from the 1970s to 2015 and there are rumblings that Edmonton of all places want to lay claim to the donair as its official food.

Local politicians weigh in and in October of that year, the Halifax Regional Municipality considers proclaiming the donair as the official food of Halifax. Noting that Nova Scotia already has a provincial horse (the Sable Island horse) and dog (the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever), council debates whether the “iconic and unique” donair warrants special status.

The 43-page report from October 2015 — which includes media coverage as support — points out that mayors can make simple proclamations highlighting causes, topics and special occasions, and promises there will be no financial or environmental implications with a donair proclamation. “Visitors come to Halifax to experience their first Donair,” the report concludes. “The Donair has brought recognition to Halifax unlike any other food.”

The motion passes on Dec. 8, 2015.

Let the celebrations begin

At King of Donair, a Halifax institution, you can put on a paper crown while you eat.Jennifer Bain

The King of Donair is so grateful for the official honour, it proclaims December 8 National Donair Day and starts celebrating it in 2016. Some people take part in its showy donair-eating contests for charity while others find quieter ways of honouring the local creation, which is always paired with tomatoes and onion (never lettuce) and tightly wrapped in foil.

In Halifax this summer for a grad school residency, I devote all my downtime to donairs. I plot donair burgers, samosas, egg rolls, spring rolls, hot dogs, subs, tacos, pies, poutine, panzerottos, popcorn spice, gelato, cheesecake, potato chips and croquettes on a city map. I catch wind of chicken and vegetarian variations, donair donuts and donair cupcakes — all of which sound like bad ideas.

Nicholas Nahas, who now owns King of Donair, believes people come to Halifax for three things: Peggy’s cove, Citadel Hill and donairs. He urges me to try deep-fried donair wrecking rolls tossed with garlic butter at Economy Shoe Shop, which is co-owned by the Trailer Park Boys, but I regret so say that it falls through the cracks.

In praise of garlic fingers

How much did I love these garlic fingers with donair sauce from Tony’s?Jennifer Bain

Truth is, it’s tough to eat donairs more than once or twice a week and oddities like donair donuts and cupcakes are only made on special occasions, like National Donair Day, so I eat a lot — and miss a lot. Since 3 a.m. drunk food is no longer my thing, I only seek out lunch and dinner donairs when I am especially ravenous.

At King of Donair with a friend, we sit on a front patio proudly wearing the chain’s paper crowns and inhaling donairs wrapped in Lebanese pitas and donair egg rolls, plus garlic fingers with donair sauce. The next day, I trek to Tony’s — another well-loved donair joint — to satisfy a new garlic finger addiction. That family business dates back to 1976 and lays claim to being “one of Halifax’s original pizza and donair shops.”

Don’t forget poutine

I’ve got to say that Smoke’s Poutinerie does a great job with donair poutine despite its Ontario roots.Jennifer Bain

The best laid donair plans sometimes go awry. At Halifax’s beloved “Pizza Corner” — at Blowers and Grafton Streets downtown — Johnny K’s Authentic Donairs is sold out of its vegetarian donair. There’s a controversial story board on the wall titled “The myth, the legend, the real story of the donair.” By most accounts, the late Peter Gamoulakos invented the iconic dish and later worked with his brother John (who confusingly spells his surname Kamoulakos) selling donair products through a company called Mr. Donair. But the story board credits both brothers with inventing the Halifax donair, and although the shop is named in honour of John, it isn’t owned by him. He is the landlord. I watch a friend try her first Halifax donair and realize it can be an acquired taste.

We wander a few doors down the street to something that could be considered controversial — an Ontario chain getting in on the donair action with fabulous donair poutine. I love how Smoke’s Poutinerie chops donair meat into manageable bites that nearly match the size of its diced tomatoes and onions. Sweet donair sauce plays nice with the gravy.

At the supermarket

Nova Scotia supermarkets are sure to have donair products, if you are desperate.Jennifer Bain

I drag my feet on a trip to the supermarket for frozen donair goodies by Tony’s and Mr. Donair, which lays out the origin story on its website and gives Peter invention credits but says John helped market Mr. Donair products (the trademark has since been sold to Tony’s Meats). I’m here to eat, not wade any deeper into a sad family feud, but will note that the 43-page city report authoritatively calls Peter the donair’s founder. Also, I must politely warn that frozen donair pizzas and microwaveable donairs may not cause you to fall in love with donairs, but you probably already know that.

Donair spice, though, is a good thing to buy (although a dispute about one secret blend recently wound up in court). Donair sauce is also sold in supermarkets but can easily be made at home by combining evaporated milk, sugar, vinegar and garlic powder.

Donair pie

Halifax had a donair crawl for several years, but it’s gone so I create my own mini crawl in Dartmouth, starting at Humble Pie Kitchen for New Zealand-style savoury, handheld pies. Since the all-important donair sauce dries out during baking, the shop squirts a little extra in through the pastry shell when you order. These pies should be eaten by hand like a sandwich or burger. I’m also sick of donair by now so I walk right by Battery Park, even though I’m tempted by its Super Donair Burger with “drunken onions,” an intriguing sounding “red” donair sauce and the strange addition of mortadella.

Final deliciousness

Souper Duper Soup makes donair soup on Fridays.Jennifer Bain

Not far from Humble Pie is Souper Duper Soup, a sweet café that makes donair soup every Friday and sells its own donair spice blend (dehydrated onion, garlic, oregano and “spices”). I suspect shaved meat won’t work in soup, but it turns out they use ground meat for a wonderful hamburger soup with donair fixings — tomatoes, onions and donair sauce — plus a decadent hit of cream cheese and mozzarella. It is my last taste of Halifax donair.

Final thoughts

I love this image of a saucy donair.Jennifer Bain

I head back over the bridge to Halifax in a cab and strike up a donair conversation. “I’m not a donair eater,” the Bob’s Taxi driver sniffs. “They’re sloppy, they’re messy and they stink. But apart from that, if you like all that, they’re good.” Sounds like he’s conceding they taste good but admitting he’s too much of a a neat freak to enjoy them?

This guy needs to meet Stephanie LeLacheur, the gift shop coordinator at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. “If you want to consider yourself a Haligonian, you have to love them,” she argues. “As a transplant to the city, it was a rite of passage to have my first donair.” She’s a big fan of donair pizza because it’s “less messy with all the flavour.” Good point.

LeLacheur has created a gift shop display showcasing seagull stuffies picking at a felt donair. It sparks conversations but isn’t for sale — yet. I console myself with a clever fridge magnet that says “I got sauced in Halifax, Nova Scotia” and shows a smiling donair lounging as creamy, white sauce drips out of its head.

The true value of donairs is that they’re a guilty pleasure and they make people happy. Might I suggest a few ways to keep up the donair momentum in Halifax? Name new streets after donairs (Donair Parkway, Donair Crescent, Donair Heights), start a donair mural series, unveil a statue commemorating the founder of donairs, and erect a giant roadside donair that we can all make pilgrimages to.